Verkkokauppa.com issues a positive profit warning and upgrades its guidance for 2020 following better than expected development in the third quarter and improved outlook for the remainder of the year

Verkkokauppa.com Oyj Insider information 24 September 2020 at 19:30 EET

Verkkokauppa.com issues a positive profit warning and upgrades its guidance for 2020 following better than expected development in the third quarter and improved outlook for the remainder of the year

Verkkokauppa.com Oyj adjusts its guidance for revenue and comparable operating profit, issued on 21 July 2020. The company now estimates the revenue to be between 525–550 million euros and comparable operating profit to be between 17–21 million euros for 2020. Previously, the company estimated the revenue to be between 520–545 million euros and comparable operating profit to be between 13–18 million euros for 2020.

Verkkokauppa.com Oyj will publish its interim financial report for the period ended 30 September 2020 on 23 October 2020.

Guidance upgrade rationale

The guidance change is based on, on the one hand, stronger than expected development of the revenue and comparable operating profit during the late summer and early fall and, on the other hand, the company’s revised estimate of the positive development of demand during the fourth quarter of 2020. Sales and the consumer demand have continued to develop more favorably than the company previously anticipated during the exceptional circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the high demand in many of the company’s key product categories in the second quarter has not resulted in a weakened demand in these categories in the third quarter.

Furthermore, the company has been able to successfully take advantage of shifting consumer behavior accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the sales in the online sales channel have shown stronger growth than expected. The company’s profitability has improved better than expected also thanks to sales shifting towards higher-margin sales channels faster than anticipated.

Nevertheless, the uncertainties concerning the future business outlook remain significant and relate to macroeconomic developments. While the overall situation in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic has remained stable in Finland, the pandemic may still cause unforeseen impacts on the overall economic development as well as consumer purchase behavior and B2B sales.

The previous guidance for 2020, issued on 21 July 2020, was as follows:

“The company’s outlook for 2020 expects revenue to be between 520–545 million euros (2019: 504 million euros) and comparable operating profit to be between 13–18 million euros (2019: 11.3 million euros).”

For more information, please contact:

Panu Porkka

CEO



Tel. 5

Mikko Forsell

CFO



Tel. 5

Distribution:

Nasdaq Helsinki

Principal media

Verkkokauppa.com in short

Verkkokauppa.com is Finland’s most popular and most visited Finnish online retailer, with the aim to sell to products to its customer at probably always cheaper prices. Depending on the season, the Company markets, sells, and distributes some 60,000–70,000 products in 26 different main product categories through its webstore, retail stores, and network of pick-up points. The Company has four megastores: in Oulu, Pirkkala, Raisio, and Helsinki, in addition to which products can be collected at more than 3,000 pick-up points. Verkkokauppa.com was founded in 1992 and it is headquartered in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The Company’s shares are listed on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki under the ticker symbol VERK.